This is Toobz, Written by Gary Dunne, The aim of this game is pretty simple from the outset, you have to get the correct colored balls into the correct exits, and ditch the wrong balls down the abyss chute
There are several launcher chutes (only 1 on level 1) which output colored balls, so for example if a Green Ball pops out, you need to redirect it into the Green colored ball exit tube, or if there is a color changer, put the ball through that until it goes Green, then output it through the Green exit, there is also an abyss exit, which ditches the ball and removes it from play
There is also a time limit at the bottom of the screen, alongside counters for how many balls are left to win the level, the next ball colour which will spawn out of one of the launch tubes, and your current score
Upon getting the required number of Balls into the correct Exit Chambers, you will then get a celebratory jingle, along with a Time Bonus for how long you have left, and the next level will appear
Before you start playing, you can click the Right Mouse for a few options, such as selecting how many players (upto 4), Choosing Level 1 or entering a Password for a later level, and also what Skill setting you wish, from Beginner, Normal and Expert
There is no music, But there are some great in-game sound effects which play when a ball is launched into the playing field, when the ball exits, and when you ditch a ball into the abyss
The colours of the Balls dictate what you should do with them, for example:
RED / GREEN / BLUE / YELLOW BALLS – Only put these into their correct Toobz colour (or change the colour with the colour changing block (which is square in design and has the 4 colours on top of it)
WHITE BALL – Classed as a “Good” ball
GREY BALL – This one is a little devil in terms of what it does, from adding or deducting 30 seconds to/from your time, reduce/increase the number of balls required to complete the level, reverse the rotator directions for a few seconds
BLACK BALL – These are only shown in Multiplayer mode, and can do the same as the GREY BALL except reverse the rotator directions
Then on screen we have an information panel, which shows the Current Player (1UP-4UP and Score), Time remaining in Mins:Secs format, Number of balls to complete the level, and the Colour of the next launched ball, then below that is a message bar which will tell you certain things what occur/happen in the game
Lets play some Toobz………….
NOTES: Must be run under Kickstart 1.3 if you want to change Options, as it fails to work correctly under Kickstart 2/3 you cannot move the selector bar up/down
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Wow! This is a blast from the past!
This was my first complete game and it was developed in 1994 on an A500 using AMOS. I’ve long since lost the source code, and can’t remember any of the passwords. Getting on the cover of Amiga Power (and a review) was such a pleasant surprise and I did a rewrite in Javascript (check out https://garyd.tech), but it doesn’t stand the test of time as well as it should. Looking back, it needed to have more action rather than waiting for the right colours, but I’ve still got a soft spot for Toobz.
Nice review – Glad you enjoyed it.
Thankyou so much for your kind comments Gary, I did not actually know it was written in AMOS, so I have added it into the AMOS category as well, such a shame you lost the sourcecode to it though